After solving a problem, Zhou Cheng continued: "Old Tang, I want to discuss a big problem with you!"

"Before you come, I asked the Chief of Staff to count the total force of our National Salvation Army and the number of people who eat public food in the defense zone after the expansion of our National Salvation Army. I don't know. I was shocked when I calculated it. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as "military and powerful."

Chen Zhengyu, who was standing beside him, immediately responded: "The number is indeed huge!"

"After the expansion of the troops, the main force has three main battalions, one guard battalion, one special battalion, one cavalry battalion, and one artillery battalion, plus other regiments directly under the regiment, with a total force of more than 5,000."

"There are 8,000 people in the four garrison brigades, and we also have an over-organized recruit battalion, which is 15,000 people in total."

"This is just the local troops and the main force. Our local government still has a large number of cadres who need to eat public grain. The militia formed by each village also need to compensate them for some food. We calculate it based on 500 people in a county, and there are 2,000 people in total."

"Our direct arsenal, a breeding farm formed by disabled soldiers, and intelligence personnel scattered all over the place... They must have more than two thousand people in total."

"This time we attacked Shouyang and Yangquan, we captured nearly 8,000 puppet troops in total. If 80% of the prisoners could be mobilized to join the National Salvation Army, we would have more than 6,000 more soldiers who eat public food."

After hearing this, Tang Yufeng's eyes widened and shouted in shock: "Twenty-five thousand people? Why are there so many? I always thought that our national-savior army only needs to support more than 10,000 people."

"The population of the four counties totaled more than 500,000. Based on the calculation that thirty ordinary people support one soldier, more than 500,000 people can support more than 10,000 people."

"If our national rescue army eats more than 25,000 public food, it is equivalent to twenty people who will support a soldier. It is better to have a good harvest. If there is any natural disaster or man-made disaster, not only will the villagers go hungry, but the people will also go hungry!"

Seeing that Tang Yufeng saw the problem at a glance, Zhou Cheng immediately responded: "I also think that the number of people eating public food is a bit too high, and it is best to reduce it to 15,000."

"Even if we can't compress it to 15,000 people, the extra troops will try every means to be self-sufficient and not add pressure to the people in the defense zone."

"Even the 15,000 people in our staffing need to find ways to be self-sufficient and relieve the pressure on the people!"

Tang Yufeng was shocked by Zhou Cheng's decision.

The number of people who eat public food has been reduced from 25,000 to 15,000, which means that the National Salvation Army will almost lay off nearly 40% of its troops and local cadres.

The defense zone has just changed from two counties to four counties, and there are still more than 100,000 victims to be affected. It is definitely necessary to require a large number of local cadres.

Especially Yangquan and Shouyang, which have just been taken down, there are many Japanese and puppet military spies and hostile forces hidden in the territory. Any underestimation of the enemy may bring heavy blows to the national rescue army, so the militia forces used to maintain local public security cannot be cut.

As for the workers in the arsenal, the breeding farms formed by disabled soldiers, and the intelligence network formed by the National Salvation Army, it is even more impossible to cut.

Not only can they not reduce their number, but as the territory controlled by the National Salvation Army becomes larger and larger, the number of troops becomes more and more powerful, the number of people in these departments will increase.

By this calculation, the only things that can be cut in the defense zone are troops and puppet army prisoners.

Tang Yufeng quickly expressed his thoughts: "The regiment commander, local cadres, militia units, workers in the arsenal, disabled soldiers in the breeding farm, and intelligence personnel... cannot be cut, and there will be more and more in the future."

"If you really decide to reduce the number of people who are taking public food by the national rescue army, you can only find ways from the troops and the puppet army captives."

“But there is another problem with doing this!”

"The troops have basically been expanded. Whoever we cut and how we cut them, or how we do it, will cause big trouble."

"Several garrison brigades have begun training, especially the Xiyang garrison brigade and the Pedal garrison brigade. The troops are just one step away from forming combat power. We suddenly ordered them to cut one-third of the troops. Not only can the captains of the garrison brigades not understand, but the soldiers who were cut can't understand it."

"They finally passed the assessment and joined the National Salvation Army. This is a very honorable thing for them and their families."

"As a result, we cut it off for no reason and withdrew from the National Salvation Army, they will definitely not be able to figure it out!"

"And none of the families of these soldiers left them food rations."

"After cutting them like this, the pressure on the troops is gone, but the pressure on their families will suddenly increase, so I think reducing the main force will not reduce the food pressure in the defense zone."

"I don't think it's much point to cut the prisoners, and it will increase the instability of the defense zone and lose thousands of reserve troops with strong combat effectiveness."

"As far as I understand, most of the captives are locals. If we let them go, these people will either leave our defense zone and return to their hometowns, or stay in our defense zone to settle down."

"While the first choice can relieve our food pressure, we will lose a lot of excellent soldiers."

"Although the second option will not lose troops, our food pressure will not be reduced."

"And these people have been puppet troops and fought wars. If they stay in our defense zone, they will be unhonest, and they will be bribed by the Japanese and puppet troops, becoming a hidden danger that harms our base, or become bandits, or occupy the mountains as kings, threatening the lives and safety of the people in the defense zone..."

“No matter how they choose, there will be all kinds of disadvantages for us…”

"Instead of doing this, it's better to keep them, concentrate them together, change them in thought, and finally cultivate them into our own."

Zhou Cheng was silent, and he suddenly felt that he was too simple.

Simplifying military and government sounds simple, but it is very difficult to do it well.

After listening to Tang Yufeng's analysis, he suddenly realized that the National Salvation Army was not very suitable for simplifying military and simplifying administration.

But hundreds of thousands of people in the defense zone cannot support so many people who eat public food. After the severe drought, the grain production in the defense zone will be reduced, making it even less likely to support so many people.

Faced with this result, Zhou Cheng had to find another way and consider other solutions.

Tang Yufeng's facial expression is also particularly serious.

As the steward of the National Salvation Army, no one knows the maximum ability of the defense zone to bear better than him.

If the people in the defense zone really can't support so many troops, the final pressure will be concentrated on themselves.

At this time, Zhou Cheng suddenly thought of Nanniwan in history and the Agricultural Reclamation Corps after Liberation.

Since the troops cannot be reduced, we should settle for the second best, let the soldiers farm in the defense zone as soldiers, and be self-sufficient...

His eyes lit up and shouted, "Then we will not reduce the strength of the troops, nor will the captives in our hands be cut."

"In addition to reducing the number of people eating public food, it can relieve the pressure on the people, self-sufficiency in the army can also reduce the pressure on the people."

"A garrison brigade has two thousand people. If they can cultivate 6,000 acres of land and harvest 80,000 kilograms of grain while training and fighting, the entire brigade will have food for one year."

"As for the captive soldiers, we can adapt them into temporary agricultural reclamation forces, and train them while reclaiming wasteland in the defense zone to ensure that they are both training and farming."

"In case of a battle, you can replenish their troops at any time."

"If there was no battle, they also made their own contribution to our national salvation army by reclaiming land."
Chapter completed!